Between rise, plunge, Dean delivered a message

"This has been a campaign that has been extraordinarily different. The new approach, planting seeds on the Internet, strengthening grass roots, face-to-face obtaining support from hundreds of thousands of small donors, all these steps can revitalize our democracy and return power to ordinary Americans. All of us have done these things together.

"We have demonstrated to other Democrats that it is a far better strategy to stand up against the right-wing agenda of George W. Bush than it is to cooperate with it. We have led this party back to considering what its heart and soul is, although there is a lot of work left to do."

Dean, 55, was among the first to speak out against the war in Iraq, among the first to criticize Bush's tax cuts and to rail against the power of special interests in Washington. He laid blame on the Bush administration for a spiraling federal budget deficit and on Congress for its inability to create a national health insurance program like one he enacted in his home state.

In Vermont, Dr. Dean was never a very good politician. He was quite a good governor. He was a prudent steward of the state's finances. He expanded social services while reducing taxes. During the debate over civil unions in 2000, he not only kept his word but he also kept his cool.

Burlington Free Press - Probably Dean's greatest offering to the Democratic Party is the young people he inspired to become politically active. His antiwar, antiestablishment message resonated with them and with liberal activists within the party.

He also challenged his opponents to take a stand on health care, jobs and balanced budgets to define the party as distinct from Republicans.

In the end, delegates shied away from Dean. He made gaffes, the most notable being the "scream," and off-the-cuff comments that threw his electability into question. He showed a temper and an impulsive side. Perhaps he was -- as he said Wednesday -- terrifying to the Washington establishment in their "salons in Georgetown."

Dean painted a different picture of Vermont for a national and international audience -- a place that was extremely appealing and hard to define. He talked of a state that held true to traditional American values. He spoke of the state's natural beauty and pull, and the good people who live here.

Wednesday, he repeated what he said when he left office as governor: "If the rest of this country were more like Vermont, we would be much better off."